New York: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders have assailed each other over their judgment and experience before a rowdy crowd in a high-volume debate five days before a crucial New York nominating contest for the US presidential election.
In their fifth one-on-one debate, Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders showed the mounting pressure of their marathon White House race with a series of heated exchanges on Wall Street, guns and other issues that featured the two of them shouting in unison while an evenly split crowd roared its support.
"If you're both screaming at each other, the viewers won't be able to hear either of you," moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN warned at one point.
The last nine opinion polls taken in New York, a state where Mr Sanders was born and Mrs Clinton served eight years as a US senator, show her holding a double-digit advantage over him ahead of Wednesday's New York vote, the next nominating contest on the road to a July national convention and the November 8 election.
As the two-hour debate ended, a social media sentiment analysis company said Mr Sanders had more than 173,000 mentions on Twitter, 55 per cent of them positive, while Mrs Clinton had more than 191,000 mentions, 54 per cent of them negative.
Mr Sanders, who had questioned the former secretary of state's qualifications to be president, conceded she was qualified but said she had shown poor judgment by taking money from Wall Street for speeches she gave, by voting as a US senator to back the 2003 Iraq invasion and by supporting free trade deals.
"Does Secretary Clinton have the intelligence, the experience to be president? Of course she does but I do question her judgment," Mr Sanders said at the debate in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
"I question her judgment which voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country," he said.
"I question her judgment about running Super PACS that are collecting tens of millions of dollars from special interests … I don't believe that is the kind of judgment we need."
Mrs Clinton, 68, responded the charges were also an attack on President Barack Obama, who as a candidate raised money on Wall Street and utilised Super PACS, outside funding groups that can raise unlimited sums of money, but still fought for tough regulations on the financial services industry.
"This is a phony attack that is designed to raise questions when there is no evidence or support," she said.
Stoush over stances on big banks
Mrs Clinton said Mr Sanders had shown his lack of depth on policy issues. She cited an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board where she said he was unable to clearly explain how he would achieve his oft-stated goal of breaking up the big banks.
"You need to have the judgment on day one to be both president and commander-in-chief," Mrs Clinton said.
Pressed on what Mrs Clinton had done to show she was influenced by the money she had raised on Wall Street or her speaking fees, Mr Sanders said she was too busy giving speeches to Goldman Sachs to break up the big banks.
"He cannot come up with any example because there is no example," Mrs Clinton replied.
"I stood up to the behaviour of the banks when I was a senator."
Sanders calls for respect for Palestinian people
The two candidates also battled over support for Israel, with Mr Sanders calling himself "100 per cent pro-Israel" but adding that Middle East peace required treating "the Palestinian people with respect and dignity".
He questioned what he said was Mrs Clinton's too-firm commitment to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"There comes a time if we are going to pursue justice and peace that we are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time," Mr Sanders said.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off
Photo: Senator Sanders criticised Senator Clinton's commitment to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (AFP: Justin)
Mrs Clinton responded neutrally: "Nobody is saying that any individual leader is always right but it is a difficult position."
While far short of the brawls that have characterised Republican debates, the tone reflected a more contentious turn in the Democratic race.
Mrs Clinton leads Mr Sanders by 251 bound delegates to the July nominating convention. Her lead balloons to almost 700 when the support of superdelegates — party leaders who are free to back any candidate — are added.
Mr Sanders faces a tough task cutting Mrs Clinton's lead since Democrats award delegates in each state proportionally to the candidate's level of support, allowing her to pile up delegates and draw nearer to the nomination even if she loses a state.
Mr Sanders has pledged to battle all the way to the party's July convention in Philadelphia, arguing superdelegates will switch to him once they realise the extent of his popular support.
Mrs Clinton so far has 2.4 million votes more than Mr Sanders in the state-by-state nominating race.
